MLB 11 The Show News Post

MLB 11 The Show Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here

07:03 PM - February 22, 2011 by Pared

The MLB 11 The Show demo is available now. It weighs in at roughly 3 GB and features the Texas Rangers vs. the San Francisco Giants, in a 4 inning World Series rematch.

Please post your impressions here.

DO NOT post that you are downloading the demo, what % the download is at, the fact that you are starting to install it, etc.

IMPRESSIONS ONLY please.

Game: MLB 11 The ShowReader Score: 8.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3Votes for game: 57 - View All

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Member Comments

# 301 Knight165 @ 02/23/11 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhillsPhan26


	I hit a shot off of the right field wall and thought for sure I get 2 out of it. The ball bounced off of the wall and I guess the fielder took the right angle cause the ball went right to him and he gunned me out at 2nd.

Well...I did say occasional..
BUT....I just might be crazy.

M.K.
Knight165

# 302 Visionsofmastery @ 02/23/11 01:51 PM

won 2 to nothing , once I figured out how to visualize and kinda move my finger around the analog before the pitch was thrown to jumpstart on movement into a smooth stride I was good.

I can say one thing if this is the default to play with online alot of more offensive type games will be made, gone are the days where an at-bat will have 3 pinpoint black strikes you are going to miss and when you do or get in a hitters count you will have to challenge ohhhhhh I am going to love hitting this year I expect my walks to go through the roof now

# 303 Lewis160 @ 02/23/11 01:52 PM

This game is really not the same as 10. the crowd is loud as if its a world series game. Makes the game more exciting to play. The commentators arent that bad. Its sounds like listenin to them on the radio that excitin feeling.

# 304 TexasBorn1 @ 02/23/11 01:56 PM

Whew, the analog throwing is killing me. Two errors in one inning...its gonna take me some time to get used to it and I will because I like the challenge. Analog pitching is a lot of fun as well

Hitting, I couldn't hit anything not even pitches down the middle so I will be using timing based hitting only. I am not much of a baseball guy(but I love The Show been buying it every year since 07) so I have a tendency to swing at everything just hoping something good happens. Maybe when I get better I will give analog hitting a shot

# 305 speels @ 02/23/11 02:02 PM

Played my first game last night on default as the Giants. Lost 1-0 in 7 innings. Lincecum only gave up 3 hits all game, but I misplayed a hit in the outfield as I was in a hurry to gun the runner out at home, and missed the grounder completely.

I love all of the analog stuff, it actually makes me feel like I am in the game. I do need a lot of work on hitting though as I struck out 17 times in 7 innings.

Need to layoff the balls outside of the zone as the CPU had 92 pitches and only 5 were called balls.

# 306 nomo17k @ 02/23/11 02:06 PM

I was not gonna try the demo but since the download can proceed while I'm in bed I thought why not. MLB 10 was my first so I cannot comment on how the series has improved and such either. All the guys in this thread have a lot to say in common so I'm not going to repeat them as well.

There is one thing I wish to add on the analog control though. I really like the learning curve that the system introduces, as things can get pretty repetitive quickly with "traditional" button press control system.

However, has anyone wished that there is a way to adjust its "natural movement" of analog? The cool thing about the analog stick is that you can go in any direction, unlike d-pad which is only capable of specifying several predetermined directions. However, the analog *does* have its natural position, which is when it sticks right up at the center. The analog stick has a tendency to resume to that position.

When I use the analog for pitching and hitting, this somehow makes it difficult for me to push the stick in the desired direction.

Naturally, my thumb does not move forward and backward as defined in the controller, its forward movement is more like from the bottom left to the upper right. So if I want to paint the outside low as a pitcher (as seen in pitching view vs RHB), I feel I need to make an unnatural move with my thumb. If I just move my thumb naturally, then the pitch tends to go inside. Similar thing happens with hitting.

I think one possible solution is to "calibrate" the analog stick with user's natural thumb movement (just as you need to each time with Move), and set that as the "zero point" which, in the case of pitching, defines the "down the middle."

What do others think? I guess I can take this as a learning curve thing, but everyone's thumb naturally moves differently I believe, so it might help people to feel more natural with analog.

Just my opinion.

# 307 Visionsofmastery @ 02/23/11 02:08 PM

Texas I can help you get to 300 hitter dangerous hitter with analog.
The Human Brain when training and is conscious can only focus on 1 thing while trying to perform something. It is when it becomes a automatic that we can handle more than 1 action. Now here is what I would like for you to do

1.Put the show 2011 demo back in

2.Never pitch keep going to pause and keep it on the team at the plate
3. Start with 0-0 count and visualize moving the analog crisp as the pitcher toes the mound,
4. Watch the windup and wait until he gets into the pivot point where his body is aligned right before he is about to thrust forward.
5. As he thrusts for 0-0 practice only your stride for 0-0 0-1 0-2 , strike out! These are the most common counts where you will feel pressure and I want to eliminate that first.
6. If you go up 1-0 take a swing on the next pitch
7.Once you get comfortable with your stride on 0-0 0-1 0-2, I want you then to work on getting the count to 1-0 by swinging at 0-0 good pitches and then take 1-0 2-0 2-1 3-1, the reason for this is sometimes you don't have a great hitter at the plate and letting you time a positive count strike early in the game can pay off huge in the middle late innings when the pitcher knows he has to throw a strike and you have his timing for that count.
8. Then move on trying to get the count to 2-0 before taking pitches

This will help you learn a few things
1) What your fear level is in baseball counts
2) What counts you get the feel for zoning in
3) Chase alot less breaking balls and timing will be on and when off able to adjust by keeping hands back.

Remember the key is don't pitch just keep switching the pause menu to the next team at the plate. Before you know it you will be calling your shot

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexasBorn1


	Whew, the analog throwing is killing me. Two errors in one inning...its gonna take me some time to get used to it and I will because I like the challenge. Analog pitching is a lot of fun as well Hitting, I couldn't hit anything not even pitches down the middle so I will be using timing based hitting only. I am not much of a baseball guy(but I love The Show been buying it every year since 07) so I have a tendency to swing at everything just hoping something good happens. Maybe when I get better I will give analog hitting a shot

# 308 Big Shmooz @ 02/23/11 02:18 PM

Well, here is my initial impression. First, let me say I played so far only two innings.

On first look the game itself seemed to me to be the same as last year. (opening scene of the stadium) Then I noticed the players.The players do look a bit more natural. However Lincecum's hair kinda looked weird. I guess it is the stiffness. (non animated)

I will focus first on the graphics & things I noticed, then on the gameplay. Then on the sound.

Graphics.... Besides the Lincecum hair thing, I also noticed a weird thing on a CPU generated replay of the batter swinging & running out of the box. His shoes were bent where the toes meet the main body of the foot in a very unnatural way. (almost doubled up on to the rest of the shoe) I also noticed when Lincecum was walking around off the mound, he kind of glided on the grass rather than walked at certain points. Then I also noticed that while walking he was stepping off the mound yet his stride did not match the downward angle of walking off the mound. He kind of looked as if he was walking on a flat surface. (his feet did not angle downward)

Also, clipping still exists, as I saw the batter walk up to the plate & simply partially walk THROUGH the catcher on his way there.

On the other hand, on batted balls I noticed the sheer smoothness of the ball physics as it moved down the field. Even on foul balls. It was truly an upgrade from previous games. I liked that alot.

I also like how the ball bounces off the catchers chest protector on balls in the dirt.

I am a little disappointed that the colors of fielding gloves still seem to be a bit off in the upgrade department. (the almost "yellow like" color of the gloves some fielders use is still not in the game. The ones you see in the dugout scene post game in MLB 10 & they were the "brown colored" gloves in MLB 09)

I do like the idea of so many multiple cameras both for hitting & fielding & yes, I agree with others who like catcher view #5.

Gameplay.... First let me note that I played with the game defaults.

I found the pitching shall I say... interesting. I, like others, feel it is something to get used to. Mind you, I am not against using this. In fact I actually am leaning towards continuing to use this mode with the full game. But it does take some getting used to. (which is fine) I have always used meter pitching. (which I happen to have liked) But this does add a new dimension to the game that makes it more "dynamic". (if that's the right word)

In fielding I found myself making stupid mistakes such as not throwing the ball after fielding it, due to not being used to the control scheme of full analog. But I know these things will get better over time so this does not worry me.

I feel the need to repeat here how much I love the physics of the ball in the sense of gameplay. (in addition to my inital point made in the graphics area) This is something I feel that is very essential towards enjoying the game in a game like baseball & in this sense the game does it very very well.

I do wonder though why after a pitchout when I tried to throw the ball to first with my catcher, the ball did not throw even though the throw seemed to load up properly on the meter. I don't believe I canceled the throw since I did not simply tap it, I held down the right analog stick towards first base. Anyway, I am not going to judge this based on one time. Perhaps it was user error & I simply am not realizing it.

As far as the sound is concerned, Karros does sound different to me also, but not in the same way that some others have mentioned. In fact he sounds to me like he is closer to the microphone than the other announcers. I feel that is the best way to describe what I am hearing.

Personally I don't know why people did not like Hudler, but I guess that is personal preference & one can't debate this from a logical standpoint.

Anyway, this is my initial impression.

One more thing I would like to say. The very first pitch I got in the game, I hammered a line drive single past the shortstop a bit to his left. So I am thinking, what are people talking about here saying how hard they find it to hit? Well, after that hit, I could not get another one in the rest of the inning nor in the next. Now that itself is not that big a deal. What is the big deal, is that I don't believe I made contact on a ball in those two innings more than two other times.

So yes, I agree that hitting timing is something that I am going to need to get used to.

# 309 B-Man1985 @ 02/23/11 02:32 PM

Hey fellas, new to the boards LOVE the site!

I've played about 10 games and FINALLY won. Everything has a learning curve which is awesome it makes the game competitive and unique. Reminds me of the old Winning Eleven/Pro Evolution SOccer series on PS2 where you played each new iteration and for the first few days it was frustrating and ya hated it. But after sticking through the learning curve and getting a rythm for how everything works you realize how immersed you are into the gameplay and how deep the game is and this year's MLB The Show does that for me.

Good stuff SCEA, already have my game pre-ordered at Gamestop

# 310 MLB Bob @ 02/23/11 02:33 PM

Just finished playing an 8 inning game. I was hoping for a full 9 innings but hey we're only suppose to get 4. I got a pitching change too, not my pitcher but lincecum was pulled for Mota..1-0 Texas. I was hoping to see Wilson or his beard, they said he was up in the pen..but SF didnt score and the game was over. I love the 4 button hitting options..power, contact, defense and bunt..able to work counts better..for me anyway

# 311 cp22 @ 02/23/11 02:41 PM

In one of my games I got a hit to the left field wall with Nelson Cruz, San Fran's LF went to get the ball at the wall and just kept running into the wall. Ended up getting an inside the park HR. Hope stuff like this gets fixed.

# 312 tekulve66 @ 02/23/11 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nemesis04


	Anyone notice the new camera angles for the pickoff plays? there are three of them!

I enjoyed all three during my first inning of play (picked off Borbon I believe on my third throw over). Was just trying to see if I remember the pickoff move, and those camera angles definitely jumped out and looked great!

# 313 Blzer @ 02/23/11 03:01 PM

Okay, I actually do have some bad things to say about the lighting believe it or not. Well not bad, but something I felt was an assurance that doesn't seem to be yet for this franchise.

I know people are all over the new colors and clouds and such, but frankly the lighting still seems off to me. I'm all for beauty in the sky, but it stays light for way to long and then kind of has a five batter transition where it gets rapidly darker before it hits its "darkest" moment (which with clouds apparently is no longer a pitch black sky seen from the inside of the ballpark). When they said that it would take longer for it to get dark, I thought they were referring to a smoother transition to the deepish dark blue colors into an apparent black later, but it seems it simply stays light longer and then does a quick cut to darkness within even the same inning. Though they don't seem to be plagued by "gray sky" anymore, this transition is still somewhat awkward.

It could just be because it's in the demo, but that's what was said for '09 and it wasn't the case.

Otherwise, I have nothing but good things to say about the new night time lighting. Not all skies always look that beautiful as the sun goes down, but this is a video game so why knack on that?

# 314 Cannoncourt @ 02/23/11 03:10 PM

[b]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nomo17k


	However, has anyone wished that there is a way to adjust its "natural movement" of analog? The cool thing about the analog stick is that you can go in any direction, unlike d-pad which is only capable of specifying several predetermined directions. However, the analog does have its natural position, which is when it sticks right up at the center. The analog stick has a tendency to resume to that position. When I use the analog for pitching and hitting, this somehow makes it difficult for me to push the stick in the desired direction. Naturally, my thumb does not move forward and backward as defined in the controller, its forward movement is more like from the bottom left to the upper right. So if I want to paint the outside low as a pitcher (as seen in pitching view vs RHB), I feel I need to make an unnatural move with my thumb. If I just move my thumb naturally, then the pitch tends to go inside. Similar thing happens with hitting. I think one possible solution is to "calibrate" the analog stick with user's natural thumb movement (just as you need to each time with Move), and set that as the "zero point" which, in the case of pitching, defines the "down the middle." What do others think? I guess I can take this as a learning curve thing, but everyone's thumb naturally moves differently I believe, so it might help people to feel more natural with analog. Just my opinion.

AMAZING idea!

# 315 airjam389 @ 02/23/11 03:16 PM

I was an xbox guy for a long time before getting a PS3 for Christmas, so this is my first experience with The Show. I got to play a game with the demo this morning and for the most part enjoyed it. Perhaps my "impressions" will be different simply because I don't have previous show experience. In fact I haven't owned a baseball game since MLB 2K9.

Graphics: Beautiful. Certainly the best I've seen in a baseball game. The shadows on the stands and field at the beginning of the game really impressed me. Animations, players, uniforms, all of it is really good.

Sound: I'm fairly indifferent. Having not played the Show the commentators are not bothering me yet, but I've never had a sports game where I haven't eventually turned off the commentators. I think this is particularly hard to do in baseball with so much down time, so it's hard to fault them. I did hear that "squeak" or "beep" type of sound probably a dozen times. Annoying, but I assume it's a demo issue. If not that will be really aggravating.

Analog controls: Pitching interface/controls is perfect. I really, really like it. Challenging but rewarding. I only made one fielding error as well and it think those controls are definitely well done. Hitting is really hard. I think I'm okay with the controls, there's just so much to do that I get flustered. I'll drop the difficulty and see if that helps, but I could see myself going back to a classic hitting style.

Overall game play: I was impressed. game is fluid and fun. I lost 4-0 because I simply couldn't hit. Actually struck out 8 times in a row. Obviously need more time with the game.

I'm not sure it will be a release day buy for me. The thing I struggle with is whether or not it will be able to hold my interest. If it gets repetitive and I get bored then I'll be disappointed and I need some more time with the demo to tell if that will be the case. Regardless, I think they've done a great job with the game. My concerns with replay value are a result of my own gaming style/personality, not so much the design of the game.

# 316 nemesis04 @ 02/23/11 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blzer


	Okay, I actually do have some bad things to say about the lighting believe it or not. Well not bad, but something I felt was an assurance that doesn't seem to be yet for this franchise. I know people are all over the new colors and clouds and such, but frankly the lighting still seems off to me. I'm all for beauty in the sky, but it stays light for way to long and then kind of has a five batter transition where it gets rapidly darker before it hits its "darkest" moment (which with clouds apparently is no longer a pitch black sky seen from the inside of the ballpark). When they said that it would take longer for it to get dark, I thought they were referring to a smoother transition to the deepish dark blue colors into an apparent black later, but it seems it simply stays light longer and then does a quick cut to darkness within even the same inning. Though they don't seem to be plagued by "gray sky" anymore, this transition is still somewhat awkward. It could just be because it's in the demo, but that's what was said for '09 and it wasn't the case. Otherwise, I have nothing but good things to say about the new night time lighting. Not all skies always look that beautiful as the sun goes down, but this is a video game so why knack on that?

They were smoothing this out still even at CD. The lighting progresses with every at bat. So if you have an unusually long at bat it can look a little awkward because the lighting could transition too abruptly when the next batter comes up.

# 317 Stroehms @ 02/23/11 03:21 PM

I can say that I honestly am in complete love with the Analog Pitching. I never thought I would be able to find something so rewarding, yet taxing at the same time.

# 318 mjb2124 @ 02/23/11 03:21 PM

I only played a little bit of the demo, but a few thoughts on the new analog controls:

* Analog Pitching: I'm not a huge fan of it. In years past I've used the meter or classic pitching and I'll probably do that again this year. It's well implemented, but I'm just not a fan of it.

* Analog Fielding: I think this was done well. I'm still stuck with the old way and missed a few throws, but those are my fault. I did try to make an error and couldn't....which is weird because I've heard many say they threw the ball away at times. Grounder to SS and I jammed the right analog stick to the right and held it there. I thought that would cause a poor throw?

* Analog Hitting: Kind of the same as analog pitching to me. I think it's done well, but I'm not a fan as I prefer zone hitting. I'm going to give it a try again, but I can't see myself using it for my franchise.

# 319 emath @ 02/23/11 03:23 PM

Well, after 7 hours of downloading (stupid slow DSL), I finally have some game time in:

First impressions... Well, balls down the 3rd base line no longer magically go through the 3rd baseman's glove (or forearm, or even foot/ankle) as I saw countless times on last years game. It's kinda nice that when a ball goes to your glove, it actually goes in it

I saw my first instant replay of a home run call. Last year I never saw one (even though I had a handful that were clearly foul balls get ruled as home runs.... Never for me though, always for the CPU). First home run I see this year was for (once again) the CPU, and it was ruled foul, though clearly fair, and they went to review and changed it.

Game looks amazing. Not sure what some people are looking at when they say it looks like '10. Apparently they are looking for a complete re-build or something.

I do in fact not like the analog controls. I tried, but they just feel horrible to me. It's understandable though since I have never liked analog controls to begin with (you could get rid of the sticks all together, and I would be happy). I am more than happy with timing based hitting, and classic pitching.

I have, as a few others have mentioned, bounced some curve balls in the grass, and had the CPU swing and foul them off. Looks goofy, but hey.... if Vlad can do it, so can others I guess. lol

Another thing that cost me a ground rule double (for the CPU) on what should have been an out... Not really as bad thing, I just wasn't ready for it... I get a routine (but fairly deep) fly ball, and get myself into the catch area. Last year the CPU would take over at that point and catch the ball for you. This year, not so much. lol I know a lot of people didn't like that, so they should be happy.

# 320 Blzer @ 02/23/11 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nemesis04


	They were smoothing this out still even at CD. The lighting progresses with every at bat. So if you have an unusually long at bat it can look a little awkward because the lighting could transition too abruptly when the next batter comes up.

Right, I understand. That sounds good though, hopefully because this was a December build it's something that was still being looked at afterward. I just feel the jump, similarly to the past two years, is far too instant when it really wants to get dark at night. Hopefully the retail version won't show the same thing.

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